of high-mileage Tridents and T3 starting issues

[Bryan]

First of all, congrats on the 100k milestone, Syke.

My 1995 Trident (it's hard for me to believe I bought the thing 13
years ago) is still stuck at around 27k and sitting in my parents'
garage. A word of warning about T3 starting issues: my bike got where
it refused to start under any circumstances, and after much sorting
and work, my father finally discovered that the pin connector for the
ground wire in the pigtail coming off the black box was broken.
Unfortunately, that problem was unrelated to the bike's hard-starting
issue, still an unsorted carb problem (I think), which finally killed
the sprag clutch. I can push start the bike (with help, natch) and
it runs great, though. I hope to get everything running properly
sooner than later. The bike has been out of commission for most of
the past three years. If I hadn't bought a new Sprint ST ABS in 2006,
my sanity would be completely lost.

Bryan

[willi...@comcast.net]

Going through similar issues here - the '96 Sprint has been mostly out of commission for about 1.5 years because of an unfathomable problem. I'm afraid it will finally have to go to the dealer. (Shudder - I NEVER have someone else work on my bikes). In my case, if it wasn't for the '05 Bonnie and the '59 Beeser, both of which I had out yesterday, I,too, would be going nuts.

Point of humor - I was in the dealer over the weekend to get a couple of gaskets for the Sprint and the counterman ( a kid) asked me if it was an ST. I told him that in '96 there were no STs, just a plain ol' Sprint. He replied, "You mean a CARBURETTED Spring? Wow, that is an OLD one." Gee, as the newest bike I'd ever owned before I bought the Sprint was a '71 BMW R60/5, I thought the Sprint was damn modern. Who ever wouda thought enough time would pass that a Hinkley motorcycle would be considered "an old one.'

Bill

[Larry Plass]

yeah, that's the equivalent of showing up on a speed triple like my '95 with
only one headlight... funny how we think of an old Triumph as a Meriden, and
the dealers think of an old one as carbureted. Soon that will be true for
the Bonnie series as well since they are going to FI, leaving no more carbs
in Triumph land. Boy, I had a look at the FI's on a new Bonnie, they did a
remarkable job disguising them as carbs. Most bike people would not
recognize them as FI at all unless they are side by side and probably not
even then for many.
- Larry